


Shelter

by athousandsmiles



Series: Solace in the Sea [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-17
Updated: 2014-10-17
Packaged: 2018-02-21 13:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2469146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athousandsmiles/pseuds/athousandsmiles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bitter wind is blowing in off the ocean, biting at her cheeks until they feel chapped and numb, much like her heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shelter

**Author's Note:**

> Written for another challenge at onceuponaland, where I had to use the words blue, umbrella, and song in the story, in that order. Also, it was supposed to be 500 words, but I went slightly over. 
> 
> This is just a little missing scene that is set between "Kansas" and "Snow Drifts."

It's somewhere between two am and dawn; she's lost track of time. The moon is playing hide and seek with a bank of storm clouds, and the sea is churning in angry, roaring waves just beyond the shoreline. To Emma, the sound is like music, the soundtrack to her inner turmoil. A bitter wind is blowing in off the ocean, biting at her cheeks until they feel chapped and numb, much like her heart.

"Swan?"

She looks up into the blue of Killian's eyes, so full of concern, and love. It's the latter that makes her swallow and look away. 

"Bloody hell, woman, what are you doing out here in the middle of the night?"

"Could ask the same of you," she says with a shrug as he sits down beside her.

"I find I don't sleep as well on land as I do on sea," he says with a humorless chuckle, scratching at his ear in that endearing way he has. She really wishes he wouldn't do that, or that she didn't like it so much. 

"Why aren't you sleeping on your ship?" she asks, eyes narrowed as she examines his face.

"That's a story for another day. Question is, why are you out here in the wee small hours, Swan? There's a storm blowing in any minute," he says, one eye on the skies. 

"New baby in the loft," she lies. "He's got his days and nights mixed up." 

He looks at her like he doesn't believe her. Of course he doesn't. She's an open book where he's concerned. Just one more thing to love (hate) about him.

"Or, you're feeling a bit lost now that your parents have a new baby, wondering where your place is, if you're still important to them."

He's nailed it, or at least a big part of it. She still wants to flee with Henry right back to New York, especially now that her parents have a new baby, but she's so scared that they'll forget her completely when she goes. In New York, there won't be witches and curses (she tries to forget about the flying monkey she dated there), but she'll be an orphan again. In New York there won't be giants and ogres and portals and magic, but there also won't be family dinners at Granny's, or mornings spent scarfing down cereal while everyone talks at once. There won't be dashing rapscallion pirates either, she thinks with a little sigh. 

"Swan, you're still their daughter. They love you. They'd be lost without you. They're your family and this town… this town can be your home. You can find happiness here if you'll just let yourself."

The first drops of rain begin to fall on them then, and Killian stands and slips off his coat, holding it over both of them like a makeshift umbrella. "Come, Swan, let's find shelter."

As the wind picks up and drives the rain sideways and the song of the ocean increases its tempo, he pulls her closer to his body with his hooked arm, and she realizes she's already found it, the shelter she so desperately needs. 

Maybe New York can wait.


End file.
